Yorkie chided me for not mentioning Jo Cox in the brief lives section of my Sunday Round-up. He’s probably right, although my own view was that her death – her murder – didn’t quite sit right with the frivolous nature of that post.
What happened last Thursday, the stabbing and shooting of an elected representative of the people, was truly shocking and symptomatic of the malaise affecting the country.
I’m no great fan of politicians as you know. They mess with our heads to convince us that black is white and out is in, and all the time with their fingers crossed behind their backs. Jo Cox was different, at least for now, because she was young enough to still be an idealist and new enough to the greasy pole still to care. We’ll never know whether she might have become someone else, someone less like us.
Jo would have been 42 years old on Wednesday, as will Cindi Lauper who coincidentally is in the UK and will appear at Glastonbury. Here is what she had to say when interviewed on Radio Five Live moments after hearing the tributes to Jo in the House of Commons and you can almost touch her incredulity at what happened last week.